


The Farm

by thedarkofnight84



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7412446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedarkofnight84/pseuds/thedarkofnight84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee considered his farm to be a project, an adventure. It turned into something even he couldn't have expected. Richlee fluff. Some short chapters, some longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know nothing about Lee's farm, other than the city it's in, which I'm not mentioning here. All descriptions are just my imagination.

After visiting three different farms in New York, Lee was about ready to despair and call it a day. He was unhappy with everything that Martha, his realtor, had shown him so far. Just because he was an actor didn't mean he wanted a "luxurious country home" that the realtor kept pushing him towards. He wanted land, green grass, open spaces...something wild and unkept that he could fix up and work on in between jobs. But so far, his search had proved unsuccessful.

The last property Martha was taking him to was a little more than what he wanted to spend, but it sounded promising. Lots of acres, a large barn and enough open space to build if need be. 

As they drove up the driveway, Lee looked at the trees, all shades of orange and red and brown, and instantly knew this was it. He could feel it. 

The driveway ended abruptly. One thing that Lee could fix in time. A few yards away from the driveway stood a large barn, in desperate need of paint and repairs. 

"The barn does need some repairs, but look inside. The previous owners had a chicken coop built in," said Martha, struggling to open the barn doors.

Now there was something Lee had not considered, chickens and farm animals!

"Now, as you can tell the property doesn't have any other living spaces, but there is plenty of room to build," said the realtor, waving her hands around. She handed him a few pages describing the land, maps and measurements since it was too large a property for them to walk around and check out the entire place. A small pond was a few yards from the barn, and beyond that, land. Martha kept blabbing on about building codes and taxes, but Lee was already building in his head. 

His dream home, built by professionals, of course (Lee was pretty good with power tools, but a house was something best left to pros). A BBQ pit here, hammocks there, a garage for his car, maybe?

"I want to put an offer in."


	2. Chapter 2

As Lee pulled up his driveway, he could see the frame of the new house. He had been involved in all the details of the small home, from layout to features, looking at so many paint samples he almost went cross eyed after awhile. Work had kept him away for awhile, but construction went on, even if he wasn't there.

Carl barked from the backseat, almost like he was excited to see the progress. This was Carl's first time out here, away from the concrete sidewalks and tall buildings of the city.

Carl jumped out of the car and ran around in circles. Lee figured this was a way of showing his approval. 

He couldn't wait until the house was actually complete and he and Carl could spend some real time here, instead of just day trips. 

His cell phone rang as he was removing his power tools from the car.

"Hello?"

"Lee, it's Bridget calling. Peter Jackson's assistant. We spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago?"

Lee dropped everything he was carrying, except his phone (thankfully). He shut his eyes for a moment, thinking about the last time he spoke to Bridget, when he and his agent had overnighted an audition tape to New Zealand.

"Lee, are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here," he stuttered, the words coming out a little too shaky, a little too high pitched. How embarrassing, he thought.

"Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh will be in New York in a few days and would like to meet with you. Maybe run some lines on camera, discuss some background and just talk with you. Does the 23rd sound okay?"

Fuck yeah, that sounds okay, thought Lee. The meeting was set and he said farewell to Bridget, the phone shaking in his hand. Carl was still running around, tail wagging. He sat on the dirt, next to his power tools, and put his head in his hands, taking a deep breath.

This was huge. This could be huge for him. Thranduil, the elven king. 

All of a sudden he heard barking and a loud bang, followed by chicken clucks.

"Carl, get away from the chickens!" he yelled, jumping and running towards the freshly painted barn.


	3. Chapter 3

As Lee was opening the bag of chicken feed, his cell phone rang. He quickly dumped out the feed and grabbed his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, are you busy?" answered the voice on the other end, a deep accented voice which made Lee smile.

"No, just feeding the chickens."

Richard laughed, which in turn made Lee laugh as well.

 

The two actors had, to everyone's surprise, hit it off right away, from the moment they met (a quick handshake on set, Richard rushing off to film in full Thorin gear, Lee in sweats on his way to train). 

Lee was in a relationship when he had flown off to New Zealand to start this new chapter of his professional life, but the relationship between him and Carter was strained at best at the time. They had slowly been drifting apart - the old cliche, but still true in this case. Lee knew, and he was pretty sure Carter knew as well, that the moment he set foot on the plane to New Zealand the relationship was over. Neither said anything, but the phone calls were less frequent and more and more strained. Lee loved Carter and the first few years were full of joyful moments and steamy sex and laughter and cuddling. But they both had careers, and as these careers flourished, their relationship took a toll. Soon, small arguments turned into big arguments, quirks became annoyances, and eventually the two spent more time apart than together. 

Lee should've been thrilled on that long plane ride to New Zealand. He was going to be a major character in a multi-million dollar film. He was going to wear elaborate costumes, and wield a sword, and get to spend time in a beautiful country. Should have. Instead, he spent the hours getting teary-eyed at the thought of leaving Carl behind. Insecurity at whether he could play this part. Wondering if his co-stars would be friendly. Stressing about his relationship.

After arriving, the whirlwind of meeting everyone, getting costumes fitted, and hours of training made all those negative thoughts go away. He spoke to Carter regularly, mostly to check up on Carl and hanging up when the awkward silences became too much to bear. 

Then, one day, he met Richard. 

Lee was only human. He had seen photos of Richard Armitage, and couldn't deny that the guy was hot. Word on the set was that Richard, while friendly, was quieter than the rest of the rowdy dwarf actors. He greeted everyone by name and made small talk with others, but no one really knew all that much about him. He went out with the cast sometimes, but most of the time ended up leaving early due to the demanding call times. They finally came face to face in a small hallway on set, Richard completely transformed into Thorin, shaking his hand and giving him a warm smile. 

"Finally, the elf king is here," he said in a deep, gravelly voice. 

Lee tried to come up with a funny comeback, but found himself tongue-tied. 

"Nice to finally meet you," he said instead.

The two stood there, looking at each other shyly, when an assistant came around a corner. 

"This way Richard," she said, and Richard gave him another smile and walked away.

As filming progressed, he found that most of the cast and crew was surprised by how much Richard came out of his shell around Lee.

They would go see each other filming, Richard smiling up at Lee sitting in that ridiculous throne as Lee looked down and made silly faces at him, trying to get him to laugh. They would sit next to each other in the lunch room, their long legs touching a bit under the table. They would have lunch or dinner together if their schedules allowed, at first with Evangeline or Graham, but slowly it became just the two of them. Lee was surprised by how easy it was to be with Richard. They had the same childish sense of humor, found a shared love of reading ("We should start a book club," Lee had quipped, jokingly) and made plans to visit various parks and trails. 

"So, what's up with you and Richard?" asked Evangeline one day, in a break between filming. "You two spend a lot of time together."

"Nothing," Lee replied, laughing at Evangeline's exaggerated winking.

"Do you want there to be?" she asked him, jokingly poking at his sides. 

"Evie, I don't even know if he's batting for my team," he said, swatting her hands away and laughing.

"Well, he is mysterious about his life, but he does spend more time with you than anybody."

Lee laughed and rolled his eyes, changing the subject. The more he thought about it, the more he did realize he liked Richard. More than liked, really. He was gorgeous and hard working and smart. They had the greatest conversations about politics and animals and history and films. Lee also wanted Richard in a more physical way. It had been a long time - a LONG time - since he and Carter had been intimate, and Lee wondered how Richard's lips would feel against his own, how his naked skin would feel and taste...

A few days before Lee was scheduled to leave New Zealand - a temporary break, he would be back in a few months - he and Richard were having dinner in Richard's trailer. It was late, and the two were tired, quietly eating pizza and sipping red wine. Richard had been particularly quiet that evening, letting Lee do most of the talking. Lee had been babbling about Carter and what was going to happen when he returned to New York. He was very open with Richard about his homosexuality and his relationship with Carter, and thankfully Richard listened and never judged. 

"I'm going to miss you," Richard interrupted, sitting down on the sofa next to Lee. The sofa was so small for the two of them and their long limbs, their shoulders and legs touched.

It came out of nowhere, and Lee felt his eyes watering. He didn't want to leave, didn't want to leave Richard. 

Richard grabbed Lee and pulled him into an embrace. Lee wrapped his arms around Richard - awkwardly on that little sofa - and felt the tears come. 

"Don't cry," whispered Richard, wiping his tears with his fingers.

Lee looked at Richard, who was looking at him with so much love...were Richard's eyes watery as well? He leaned forward and gave the man a kiss on the lips, soft and barely there. He half expected Richard to pull away, push him off, but he didn't. He kissed back, lips softly moving against his, slowly intensifying. Lee moaned into Richard's lips, it came out more like a whimper, and his hands made their way to Richard's hair. Lee felt too much, tears and sadness and joy and excitement and surprise. He tried to kiss Richard in a way that would convey all these emotions, as Richard's arms wrapped tightly around him. 

They separated, at last, heavy breathing and panting the only noises in the trailer. Richard put his forehead against Lee's and Lee could see his lips curl up into a smile. 

"I've been wanting to do that forever," said Richard, giving him another peck on the lips. 

Somehow, Lee had ended up practically on top of Richard.

"Go home, but come back to me," said Richard, linking their hands together.

Lee's tears started again. He was in shock, he had no idea Richard actually liked him, actually had feelings for him other than friendship. He was thrilled at the moment, but he was devastated that now he had to walk away from Richard, even if it was just a few months. 

They wrapped their arms around each other, impossible for two people to be more intertwined. 

"I will," Lee promised, and a few days later his airplane took off, leaving Richard (and New Zealand) behind.

 

The first thing Lee did was have "the talk" with Carter when he had returned to New York. It had gone better than expected, if that can be used to describe a separation of two people who had been at one point so in love. Neither raised their voices, neither tried to convince the other that this was a mistake, neither argued about who would keep this or that. Lee took Carl and a couple of boxes and drove to the farm (the rest would be sent up later).

He left to go film another movie, talking to Richard on the phone regularly about nothing and everything. They discussed the weather, their filming schedules, current events. Lee laughed at stories Richard told him about Martin and Ian, and Richard laughed at the stories Lee told about dance-offs and action sequences gone wrong. They shyly whispered words of affection, and how much they missed each other, and how they couldn't wait to reunite. 

Lee was not shy when it came to relationships or sex, thankyouverymuch...but for some reason this thing - whatever it was with Richard - seemed really special. As much as he wanted to get naked and touch himself and tell Richard in detail over the phone everything he wanted to do to him, he refrained. And if he maybe imagined things in the shower and came while thinking of Richard, well, he's only human.

 

"I can't wait to see your farm and chickens," Richard said.

Lee smiled while walking out of the barn, Carl following close behind. He walked into the house, which was now complete, save for a few projects here and there.

"So, you can't wait to see my farm and my chickens? What about me?!" exclaimed Lee, laughing.

Richard laughed along.

"Two more days, and I'll get to see you, finally," said Richard.

The two talked on the phone a little longer, Lee sitting in his front porch, Carl laying next to him.


End file.
